Contrivance for intermittently displaying sheets.



- E. W. BROWN. GONTRIVANGE FOR INTERMITTENTLY DISPLAYING SHEETS.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 4. 1911.

1 ,O22,179, Patented Apr. 2, 1912.

2 BHBETBSHEET l.

E. W. BROWN.

OONTRIVANGE FOR INTERMITTENTLY DISPLAYING SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, i911.

1,022, 1 79. Patented Apr. 2, 1912.

coLUHBlA PUNOGRAPN 60-, WASHINGTON D C UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD WILLIAM BROWN, OF FOREST GATE, ENGLAND.

CONTRIVANCE FOR INTERMITTENTLY DISPLAYING SHEETS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD 'WILLIAM BROWN, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at 82 Lorne road, Forest Gate, in the county ofEssex, England, have invented new and useful Improvements inContrivances for Intermittently Displaying Sheets, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a contrivance of the type whereby a series ofsuspended sheets bearing advertisements or other information can beindividually exposed for a predetermined period, one sheet beingsubstituted for another in an automatic manner.

The feature of the present invention consists in the sheets being eachtwice inverted and twice transferred from the back to the front or thefront to the back of the contrivance between each exposure to view, theresult of such arrangement being that a sheet, which in the course ofone transference becomes inverted and reversed, is by the doubletransference, returned to the correct position for properly exposing itsannouncement. Always the same surface of the sheets will be exposed toview, consequently, as distinguished from other contrivances whereinboth surfaces of the sheets bear announcements and are alternatelyexposed, the sheets, if of translucent material, may be illuminated frombehind.

The sheets are suspended in lateral guides by rods at their transverseborders in such a manner that each sheet is in a reversed positionrelatively to the immediately adjacent sheets, both in respect to itstrue top and bottom and in respect to the surface presented toward thefront of the contrivance. In the operation of the contrivance, the backpair of such sheets is carried forward over the tops of the remainingsheets in such a manner that the borders of the pair of sheets, which,when at the back of the contrivance, were directed upward, are droppeddownward in front of the other sheets, whereupon what was previously thelast sheet becomes the front sheet and what was previously thepenultimate sheet becomes the second sheet.

An important feature of the invention consists in the provision of aspace between the first and second sheets whereby the firstSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 4, 1911.

Patented Apr. 2, 1912.

Serial No. 658,478.

sheet can be illuminated from behind, the sheet being of translucentmaterial.

In the course of time the pair of sheets will again arrive at the rearof the contrivance, but then the sheet which was previously the lastwill be the penultimate sheet, while the previously penultimate sheetwill be the last. As, however, the sheets have become inverted and theirfaces reversed during their passage over the top of the contrivance, thelast sheet will then be in the correct condition for the properpresentation of its announcement when the pair of sheets are againcarried over to the front.

A contrivance constructed according to the present invention, isillustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings, in which VFigure 1 is a front elevation with the front removed and no sheetsshown. Fig. 2 is a corresponding sectional inside eleva tion of theright-hand side of the contrivance, and Fig. 3 is a sectional insideelevation of the left-hand side of the machine, some of the parts beingin different positions to those shown in the preceding figures.

In these figures :a are lateral guides which slope downward toward therear of the contrivance, and in which the sheets 6 b are suspended byrods 0 at their, for the time being, upper transverse borders. Anendless chain (Z is mounted on sprocket wheels 6 e c and placed on eachside of the contrivance. At a relatively close interval 011 each chainis a pair of fingers f f of semi-circular or channel section whichtravel in the path of the protruding ends of the rod 0 attached to the,for the time being, upper border of the last or back sheet I). The firstfinger f of the pair engages the rod 0 of the last sheet I) and liftssame out of the guide a whereupon the rod 0 of the penultimate sheet 5slips into its place and after a relatively short interval is engagedand lifted by the second finger f of the pair. The chains (Z then carrythe two sheets, the back one 6 slightly in advance of the other 6 overand into engagement with a friction roller g, whereby the sheets arecarried over the remaining sheets to the front where they are slowlydropped with their same borders leading. During this time, owing to thechains being led over the sprockets situated somewhat above and inadvance of the friction roller, the ends of the leading rods on thesheets have been carried to the front of the contrivance where the Tfall clear of the grooved fingers f f of the chains, on the grooves ofsuch fingers becoming directed downward.

The leading borders of the sheets 6 b are lowered down the front of thecontrivance, the ends of their rods 0 sliding along guide flanges h andguide rods 1', whereupon the protruding ends of the rod 0 attached tothe trailing border, which has now become the upper border of the frontsheet 6 pass over the edges of levers pivoted at their midlengths one oneach side of the contrivance, and the ends of the rod 0 at the now upperend of the sheet Z2 are prevented from sliding into the grooves a,because such ends of the rod 0, are obstructed from traveling along suchside grooves 64 by the lower ends of such pivoted levers j. During thisthe weight of the front sheet 19 slightly angularly displaces the leversinto the position shown in Fig. 3, and lifts their other ends out of thepath of the ends of the trailing rod 0 of the second sheet Z2 of thepair, and allows same, on the sheet being dropped from thefriction-roller, to fall directly into the guide-grooves a behind thefront sheet 6 In so dropping, the sheet passes rearwardly, suspendedfrom the grooves a owing to these latter being inclined downwardlytoward the back of the contrivance, until the sheet rests against thefront sheet of the remaining sheets. Thus a clear space interval isprovided for the illumination of the back of the front sheet, the blanksurface of the now second sheet serving as an effective reflector.

The front sheet 6 is eventually dropped with the ends of the rod 0attached to its upper border along the guide grooves a, by theobstructing ends of the levers j being permitted to become furtherangularly displaced, under the weight of the sheet, after each havingbeen obstructed from so doing by the protrusion of the end of a secondpivoted lever k. These second levers are displaced by the engagementtherewith of the leading finger f of each chain.

911. is an idle roller mounted on freely pivoted links m which bearsagainst the sheets during their transference and, on their release fromthe chains, maintains the sheets undergoing transference in frictionalengagement with the roller 9.

The trailing borders of the sheets are guided by the engagement of theends of their trailing rods 0 in channels a. 4

The friction roller and sprocket wheels 6 are driven by an electromotor0 through the medium of shafts 0 0 and pairs of bevel I 6 wheels, as maybe seen from Fig. 1.

On one of the chains (Z is provided a pin 79, which protrudes on thereverse side to the fingers f f In passing around the respective bottomsprocket wheel a the pin 19 displaces the lever Q1 of the time-switch gand thereby interrupts the circuit of the motor 0 and the contrivancecomes temporarily to rest and remains in such condition until thetime-switch g has run down and reestablished the motor circuit. Prior tothe contrivance stopping, the momentum of the mechanism will havecarried the pin 29 into contact with a lever r and displaced sameupwardly. This lever 1" is by a link .9 connected with a switch-lever t,which is thereby also displaced into contact with the jaws u of a switchwhich controls the circuit of electric lamps o for illuminating theexposed sheet. On the mechanism again starting, the pin p comes intocontact with the tail of the switch-lever t and removes its other endfrom the switch aws'u and thus interrupts the illumination circuit.

Obviously the reverse side of the contrivance may be the exposed side,in which case the advertisements are withdrawn upward from view.

I claim:

1. In a contrivance for intermittently displaying sheets, a seriesofsheets, means for suspending said sheets and means for twice invertingand twice transferring relatively to the front and the back of thecontrivance each said sheet between each display thereof.

2. In a contrivance for intermittently displaying sheets, a series ofpairs of sheets, means for suspending said sheets and means forinverting and transferring relatively to the front and the back of thecontrivance each said pair of sheets together, with the outer sheet ofthe pair still outermost after transferal.

8. In a contrivance for intermittently displaying sheets, a rearwardlyinclined guide groove near the upper end of each side thereof, a seriesof pairs of sheets, rods secured to the horizontal borders of saidsheets with the extremities of the upper of said rods located in saidgrooves, means for inverting and transferring relatively to the frontand the back of the contrivance each said pair of sheets together, withthe outer sheet leading, a tilting lever on each side of the contrivancein advance of said grooves and in the path of said rod secured to thetrailing border of said leading sheet, and a second lever on each sideof the contrivance with its upper end in the path of said tilting leverand its lower end in the path of said transferring means.

4. In a contrivance for intermittently displaying sheets, a rearwardlyinclined guide groove near the upper end of each side thereof, a seriesof pairs of sheets, rods secured to the horizontal borders of saidsheets with the extremities of the upper of said rods said tiltin leverand its lower end in the path of said fingers of said chain.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

EDVARD WILLIAM BROWN.

located in said grooves, sprocket-Wheels on each side of thecontrivance, a pitch-chain on each side of the contrivance led over saidsprocket-wheels, a pair of separated grooved fingers on each said chain,a friction roller above said guide-groove and in engagement with saidchains, a tilting lever on each side of the contrivance in advance ofsaid grooves Witnesses: and a second lever on each side of the con- H.W. WAGHORN, trivance with its upper end in the path of H. D. JAMEsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0."

